Banks Deny Upper East Farmers Loans

A farm in the Upper East RegionBUSINESS GUIDE has gathered that most banks in the Upper East Region have refused to offer loans to farmers who intend to invest in their business.

The farmers in the region do not have ready market for their produce.

In the past, tomato farmers in the region could obtain

loans from banks due to the existence of the Northern Star Tomato factory at Pwualugu.

The President of the Garu-Tempane Farmers’ Cooperative Union, Abdul-Rahaman Mohammed, in an interview, confirmed that the lack of access to market was a major challenge to farmers in the region.

Some farmers who have already taken loans from banks are under pressure to pay back the loans. Some farmers are selling their bullocks and other property to settle their loans before they accumulate unbearable penalties from the banks, according to him.

Mr. Abdul-Rahaman Mohammed revealed that in the past some farmers were fortunate to sign purchase contracts ahead of the harvest season and used them as surety for the loans.

Many Ghanaians have been compelled to cut down their expenditure due to the economic crunch.

Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Agriculture Services, in collaboration with the Farmer Training Centre of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese, is set to start a project dubbed, ‘The farmer organizations in agricultural value chain.’

The project is to help farmers in Northern and Upper East regions address challenges relating to cultivation, post-harvest storage and marketing of their produce.

The three-year project is being funded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA.)